Toy vehicle roof construction

ABSTRACT

A toy vehicle having an inverted U-shaped roll bar mounted at the rear of the passenger compartment, and a top extending over the passenger compartment and having clip means on the underside thereof in releasable locking engagement with the roll bar.

United States Patent Inventor Curtis 11. Fahrendorff Minneapolis, Minn.

App]. No. 823,312

Filed May 9, 1969 Patented June 8, 1Q7l Assignee Tonka CorporationMound, Minn.

TOY VEHICLE ROOF CONSTRUCTION 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl

lnLCl A631! 11/10 Field of Search 46/221, 222, 223, 202

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,587,142 2/1952 B.A.Grayeta]. 46/221 FORElGN PATENTS l,258,912 1961 France /221 345,219 1921Germany 46/223 Primary ExaminerLouis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-AlHeinz Attorney-Carlsen, Carlsen, Sturm & Wicks ABSTRACT: A toy vehiclehaving an inverted U-shaped roll bar mounted at the rear of thepassenger compartment, and a top extending over the passengercompartment and having clip means on the underside thereof in releasablelocking engagement with the roll bar.

PATENTED JUN 8l97| TOY VEHICLE ROOF CONSTRUCTION Children's toy vehiclesare generally provided with or without a roof for the passengercompartment as the convertible type top construction is easily brokenand difficult to operate.

The object of the present invention is to provide a toy vehicle with atop of rigid material that can be simply and readily removed from orreplaced in a position on the vehicle in covering relation to thepassenger compartment.

The abovementioned and additional objects of the invention will bebrought to light during the course of the following specification,reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which-- FIG. 1 is aperspective view of a toy vehicle embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a transverse vertical section through the toy taken on line2-2 of FIG. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 3 is enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken through the rearportion of the top along line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

The invention broadly comprises providing the vehicle body with aninverted U-shaped roll bar at the rear of the passenger compartment anda top member having clips thereon in releasable locking engagement withthe roll bar.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, reference numerals willbe used to denote like parts or structural features in the differentviews. A toy vehicle denoted generally at has a body 11 and groundwheels 12. A miniature seat 14 may be mounted'within the body 11.

An inverted U-shaped roll bar 15 has its end portions anchored in thebody 11 as at 16. The bar 15 has upright portions 17 interconnected attheir upper ends by a horizontal bight portion 18.

The roof or top denoted generally at 20 is formed of a resilientmaterial, preferably plastic, and has a unitary construction with a roofpanel 21 integrally associated with a pair of side panels 22 and a rearpanel 24. The lower portions of panel 24 join the lower rear portions ofeach panel 22 to form rear corner posts 25 for the top. Each post 25 hasa flat bottom edge 26 (FIG. 3) adapted for flush endwise engagementagainst the top surface of body ll adjacent to the anchored portions 16of bar 15.

The front portions of panels 22 extend downwardly to form frontcornerposts 27 for top 20. These cornerposts have bottom edges 28adapted to engage firmly against the top surface of the body 11 andequally spaced respectively from the rear cornerposts 25 at each side ofthe top.

A pair of transversely spaced clips 30 are integrally formed on theunderside of panel 21 between the rear posts 25 one just inside of eachside panel 22. These clips 30 are preferably of the same plasticmaterial as the top 20 and have a resiliency enabling them to be moveddownwardly onto and locked upon the bight portion 18 of the roll bar 15,the bar entering the clips through the downwardly opening V-shaped slots31.

The clips 30 are so positioned with respect to post edges 26 and 28 asto lock said edges firmly against the top of the car body 11 when thebar portion 18 is locked in the clips. Accordingly, the top 20 isimmovably mounted on the body. The top 20 may be removed merely byexerting sufficient upward pressure upon the top to spread the arms ofclips 30 sufficiently to allow bar 18 to pass through slots 31. The carthen becomes a topless dragster-type vehicle. The car is accordinglyreadily convertible between two different models.

Clips 30 are sufficiently strong to securely hold the top on the bodyeven when the car is picked up solely by the top or in all normal uses.On the other hand, when upward pull is exerted on the front portion ofthe top 2D, the leverage provided by the engagement of edge 26 with[body 11 is sufficient to remove bar 18 from the clips 30 with verylittle pressure.

Having now therefore fully illustrated and described the invention, whatI claim to be new and desire to protect by U.S. Letters Patent is:

1. In a toy vehicle,

a. an elongated vehicle body having a passenger compartment and upwardlyfacing portions surrounding the passenger compartment,

b. ground wheels mounted on the body for rotation on parallel horizontalaxes disposed transversely of the body,

0. an inverted U-shaped roll bar mounted on the body at the rear of thepassenger compartment and having its bight portion extendinghorizontally over the body in parallelism with said axes and spacedabove said body surface portions,

d. a top extending over said passenger compartment and having arectangular roof panel with front and rear pairs or cornerpostsdepending from the corners of the panel for endwise engagement with saidbody surface portions, and

c. said top having clip means thereon extending downwardly from the roofpanel between the rear cornerposts for releasable locking engagementwith the bight portion of the roll bar to hold the top in place.

1. In a toy vehicle, a. an elongated vehicle body having a passengercompartment and upwardly facing portions surrounding the passengercompartment, b. ground wheels mounted on the body for rotation onparallel horizontal axes disposed transversely of the body, c. aninverted U-shaped roll bar mounted on the body at the rear of thepassenger compartment and having its bight portion extendinghorizontally over the body in parallelism with said axes and spacedabove said body surface portions, d. a top extending over said passengercompartment and having a rectangular roof panel with front and rearpairs or cornerposts depending from the corners of the panel for endwiseengagement with said body surface portions, and e. said top having clipmeans thereon extending downwardly from the roof panel between the rearcornerposts for releasable locking engagement with the bight portion ofthe roll bar to hold the top in place.